Chapter Three – The Greatest Day
Harry looked at his feet, the decision on his shoulders as if he were being dragged to the bottom of the ocean by a weight. His mother's hand remained firmly clamped on his shoulder as a sign of support. After a while of deafening silence, Harry opened his mouth but found himself stumped on words – everyone else seemed to feel the same.
Turning to find where Professor Dumbledore had gone as a chance to escape the awkwardness of the silence surrounding him, he found Dumbledore approaching up the path towards the cottage. Harry made a beeline for the door to ask him a question, "How long can I stay here for Professor?"
Dumbledore looked at him, shocked that he was not intruding upon a long-awaited conversation between Harry and his parents. Then he answered, "Well Harry, as we are inside your mind, time seems to be standing still in the 'real world'. Therefore, you may remain here as long as you desire."
This was the answer Harry and clearly the rest of the room had been hoping for as the past awkwardness seemed to disappear.
"Firewhiskey?" Sirius thrusted a bottle in his direction before getting a slap on the shoulder by James.
"Sirius, could you not give my son alcohol? I think he needs a clear mind for this decision." Lily warned.
Sirius merely snorted at this, his hand still out offering the bottle to Harry. "He's of age Lily, and this isn't real!" At this Harry took the bottle gratefully, he and Ron had always wanted to try Firewhiskey in the Three Broomsticks but Madam Rosmerta knew better than to serve them anything but Butterbeer. Harry took a swig and coughed immediately, he could see why the name was warranted, his throat appeared to be on fire. This launched Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes (who Harry had forgot were there) into a fit of giggles, shortly followed by Tonks.
They all sat and talked for what seemed to be hours to Harry; the Firewhiskey had gone immediately to his head. He enjoyed a long conversation with Marlene and the Prewitt Twins – Gideon and Fabian who were chasers for Gryffindor themselves when they attended Hogwarts. Gideon and Fabian, Harry soon discovered, were in fact the brothers of Molly Weasley, his friend Ron's mother and a surrogate-mother to Harry over the past few years. This therefore gave them another conversation topic.
"-yeah I dated your mum for a bit in Sixth Year when she was still in her 'I hate James Potter' phase" Fabian told Harry laughing. He could not remember how long he had been with them anymore; they were all rather drunk. "Anyway, she gave in after a while and then you came along!" Harry nodded; in all honesty he was trying to find anyway to preoccupy himself from the decision he would have to make. As more time passed however, it was all that was on his mind – regardless of the amount of Firewhiskey he drank.
"I think I had better get going soon." He turned to face Dumbledore who had previously been engaged in a conversation with Remus. "Do you think we could see what would happen if I didn't go back… You know, at Hogwarts?"
"Of course," Dumbledore replied with a kind and calming tone to his voice. "If you're sure you would like to? I must warn you Harry, your presence is imperative for them to be victorious." Harry nodded, he did not mean to sound big headed – he knew there were fighters far more experienced than him at the castle, however he knew deep down that he was the only match for Voldemort.
"I'm sure." He whispered, although his voice seemed to say otherwise with his nervousness.
"Before you do Harry, could we take a walk?" Lily questions, a sad smile on her face. James gives him an encouraging nod from next to her.
Harry, James, and Lily made their way into the garden. The cottage was truly beautiful in its prime, fairy-lights hanging from the fences of the perimeter, it was as you might say... magical. Harry could understand why James and Lily made the decision to live here rather than the Potter Mansion, he must say the quaint and quiet life appealed to him – especially after what he had been through.
They settled themselves in front of a pond near the back of the garden. The sat exchanging a silent understanding, everything that needed to be said had been said. All that they wanted to do was enjoy the final moments in each other's company.
"We would like to come with you." James says, finally breaking the silence. "If that's okay with you." He adds, Lily nods next to him in agreement. Harry nods, a smile on his face. It would be nice to have his parents with him, just for a while longer.
They made their way back inside to the others. "We are going with him." James announces, Dumbledore nods a silent approval.
Another voice came from behind them "I would like to come too." Harry turned to see Sirius had stepped forward, he gave all three of them an appreciative smile.
"We had better get going Harry." Dumbledore said with a small smile. Harry nodded and turned towards the rest of the room and stepped towards Remus Lupin who was across the room.
"You know what you have to do, deep down Harry." Lupin said encouragingly, before embracing Harry in a bone-crushing hug.
"I am so sorry again Professor Lupin, you should have been able to watch your son grow up."
"Harry, as I said to you in the forest, Teddy will grow to learn and appreciate what his mother and father died for." At this, Tonks squeezed his shoulder before also embracing him in a hug. He waved goodbye to the remainder of the room and then closed his eyes.
Upon opening his eyes, Harry noticed that he was no longer in Godric's Hollow, nor the Forbidden Forest which he had expected to be, instead he found himself outside Hogwarts facing the long bridge approaching the school.
Harry took off his glasses and wiped them, he had seen a mass of small black dots approaching but thought that they were merely smudges on his glasses. However, once he had turned and seen the shocked faces upon his parents and godfather's face, he realised they were not a smudge, but rather an army approaching and at fast pace. Leading them, a tall, pale-skinned figure wearing a long black cloak; a wand Harry now knew to be the most powerful in existence clutched within his bony fingers.
Having apparently also seen the impending danger, the large oak doors to the castle flew open, revealing a crowd of young and old wizards – their wands raised before them. They moved out in a tight formation and came to a stop in front of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
"Well," Harry heard Voldemort sneered. He and his parents moved closer to the action. "I am glad to see you all here today, I sincerely hope you are ready to submit to the regime of the Dark Lord." While Voldemort spoke, Harry looked through the crowd of wizards before him, seeing his best friends Ron and Hermione. He heard murmurs from the crowd, many seemed to shout in a synchronisation, "Why should we submit to you?"
Voldemort grinned before speaking in a sneery voice, "Because your precious leader Harry Potter…" everyone waited in anticipation for the rest of his sentence. "Is DEAD!" This set the crowd behind Voldemort into a chorus of laughter. Almost simultaneously, a ragged looking Hagrid was shoved to the front bearing Harry's body in his arms, and a tall freckly, beautiful girl in Harry's eyes with striking red hair much like his mother's burst from the crowd of students – screaming at the sight before her. Lurching forwards before his parents or Sirius had the chance to stop him, Harry made his way across the courtyard to prevent her putting herself in any more danger than she may already be.
"Ginny." He whispered, putting his hands on her shoulders to console her. "I'm fine, I'm not dead – not yet at least." Instead of calming at the sound of Harry's voice, she began to move forward: through Harry's body almost as if he was a ghost. Her Father by this point had also managed to push his way through the crowd, and successfully managed to pull her back. Harry turned to look to where his parents, Godfather and Headmaster were stood.
"They cannot see us." Dumbledore said wisely, "We are watching a vision and therefore cannot interact with anyone here – much like the pensieve." Harry nodded an understanding and turned to face Voldemort who was once again beginning to speak.
He cleared his throat to bring everyone's attention to him, rather than Ginny and then spoke. "Before me make any harsh decisions, we would like to give everyone a chance to make the right choice on their own – isn't that right Bellatrix." He turned to look at a scrawny witch to the side of him, who was almost as pale as he and had long, matted, black hair with a white streak. She cackled.
"Sure is my Lord!" She said as she turned to survey the crowd in front of her, as though already choosing those unworthy of their attention.
"Now, if you would all just take a step forward and join us. We must warn there will be grave consequences for those who don't." He stressed the word grave, and every word he said seemed to Harry to be said with a hiss. The group behind Voldemort laughed as though he had told a joke. Once the laughter died down, they all looked forward expectantly. Nobody from the Hogwarts crowd came forwards.
"Draco…" Came a soft voice from in front of Harry. He found the source to be Draco's mother Narcissa Malfoy who was stood shoulder to shoulder with her husband Lucius, beckoning her son forwards. "Come on Draco, be a good boy." Draco looked around, as if begging for someone to help him. It was the first time in Harry's life that he had ever felt some sort of sympathy towards him, and that felt strange. He could see that Draco wanted no more than any other of the Hogwarts students to join the Dark Side and felt if it hadn't had been for his parents ushering him forwards, Draco may have perhaps helped them in the fight against Voldemort. However, this was not the case and the pale, white haired boy made his way slowly towards the army of Death Eaters. Harry could hear Sirius sneering and cursing under his breath, most likely at his dear cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa whom he hated with a passion that Harry shared.
"Well done Draco." Hissed Voldemort, looking towards the students and teachers before him. Nobody moved a muscle, not even to breathe. "Well then, if that's how it- "He was cut off by a sudden movement forwards, Harry watched as his old friend Neville Longbottom limped his way through the crowd toward the Death Eaters. "Ah, um, I must say I'd hoped for better…" A thunderous wave of laughter cascaded through the army behind him at this, Bellatrix Lestrange cackling at the side. "… What's your name my boy?"
"N-Neville…" Neville stuttered, utterly shocked by the way he had even moved forward himself. "Neville Longbottom." Another round of laughter coursed through the group.
"Well, Neville Longbottom. I'm sure we can find a place for- "Voldemort stopped as Neville cut him off. Harry turned to face him, the bottom of his mouth on the floor in shock.
"I'd like to say something actually." Neville said before launching into a speech about how people die every day, and unfortunately for them – Harry happened to be today. Harry knew that Neville had almost experienced as much loss as he. His parents had been tortured to the point of madness by Bellatrix Lestrange when Neville was young, and now both lay in a ward in St Mungo's Hospital – unaware of who their son is when he visits.
Neville's speech was long and seemed to cause controversy within the group of students and Professors behind him, many including Harry's old dorm mate Seamus Finnigan shouted, "Now then, Neville!" as a sign for him to wrap up what he was saying. He mostly agreed with what his friend was saying but wished he would finish speaking a bit sooner as Voldemort was likely growing short tempered and could kill them all in an instant.
"-The point I am trying to make is, Harry didn't die in vain… None of them did: Remus, Tonks, Fred, Moody, Professor Dumbledore… Because we won't just give into you; we will fight to the end even if it's the last thing we do!" A chorus of "YEAH"'s chimed in from behind him as they all seemed to move forwards and converge facing Voldemort who leered at their sign of solidarity – Harry knew that was something Voldemort could never understand, he knew he has never experienced love and therefore that was his greatest weakness.
"It appears," Voldemort boomed over the cheers from the opposing army. "that you have made the wrong decision, and for that you will suffer." A grim smile stretched across his face as Harry's stomach churned.
He had seen enough.
A/N – Thank you for reading! This is probably the chapter that I'm proudest of, however it could have been too drawn out. I tried to make this chapter a lot longer which I hope was nice, again though feel free to leave any criticisms in the reviews!
- Ez x